Summer of the Monkeys is a 1976 children's novel written by Wilson Rawls. The book was published by Doubleday and was the winner of the William Allen White Book Award and the California Young Reader Medal. Summer of the Monkeys takes place in the very late 19th century. It is about a fourteen-year old boy named Jay Berry Lee who wants a pony and a .22 caliber gun. The book starts by describing Jay Berry's happy and idyllic life, which is ruined when he discovers a batch of monkeys. Jay Berry's parents were young and proud sharecroppers living in Missouri, but they were also somewhat unhappy... because people looked down on them. Then they had twins: Jay Berry and Daisy. One day, Jay Berry's mom received a letter from her father , saying he gained 60 acres of land by trading and wants to give the land to them. They accept the offer and move to the Cherokee land in Oklahoma. The book tells about Daisy's crippled leg, and how hard the family is working to get her an operation, and how much Jay wants a pony. Jay Berry has a long-time companion, a dog, called Rowdy. The family milk cow, Sally Gooden, gets lost.
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| Author: | Wilson Rawls |
| Genre: | Children's literature, Fiction |
| Year published: | 1976 |
| Number of editions: | 8 |